<p>
</p>
<p>Nothing. (Otherwise a gazillion others would be doing the same thing.)</p>
<p>More importantly, even if you do complete a couple of additional years of ug and an SMP, both with 4.0’s, there is no guarantee that you will be admitted. Besides academic dishonesty and some type of abuse, a former drug problem is a huge red flag to adcoms. It will likely disqualify you from some med schools – they just won’t want to take a chance.</p>
<p>Bluebayou, I feel like you are putting it to her lightly… A drug problem is more than likely to disqualify you from MOST med schools.</p>
<p>BB/Limitless- I don’t remember, does the AMCAS ask if a person has ever used illegal drugs? Or would it only be an arrest or drug treatment which would be reported?</p>
<p>I would suggest after graduation looking for a job in some sort of a medically related field, for example in a University related research lab which would both allow you to support yourself and also to regain your life equilibrium. Take the time to both strengthen your GPA and to strengthen your skills in dealing with life, to treat the depression, to avoid drugs, etc. You have to be strong and stable to be successful in medical school.</p>
<p>Yes, this means you don’t go to med school right after graduation, but it really seems many many people do not. It does not matter if you start doctoring a few years later than you dreamed, it matters that you do it- if that is what you want to do.</p>
<p>If you really think you are at a turning point now, then take the time to address all the issues before moving on to med school, rather then risking a start too soon and the resurgence of whatever caused the problem in the first place.</p>
<p>I would hazard a guess that most people who fail university courses are not dumb and are actually capable of passing, they just did not do the work every single day that leads to success, often due to depression, immaturity, adjustment issues, lack of study skills, etc. I am sure you are capable of As in those classes, so retake them.</p>
<p>Do not discount the option of DO school, DO school would allow you to replace the bad marks with the retakes and there are many highly respected DO schools. My parents PCP is a DO and I would never have noticed if not for the med school app process, he is part of an MD practice. If that ends up being the best path to being a doctor then take it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Perhaps not, but except for lying in an interview, its almost inconceivable that it won’t come up.</p>
<p>I never got asked by a single interviewer if I ever used drugs. I highly doubt it will come up.</p>
<p>Not getting caught doing an illicit act does not make that act legal. The old phrase “It’s only illegal if you get caught” does not seem like a maxim that a doctor should live by.</p>
<p>But I could understand that they only ask if the applicant has been arrested, because certainly many applicant have done illegal acts. I could see that it should never come up.</p>
<p>@LimitlessRX: I don’t see why it should matter. If OP is seeking treatment and, by the time they apply to med school, has had their depression handled with and drug problems resolved, I don’t see why they shouldn’t deserve to go to med school (other than a lack of qualifications).</p>
<p>If the drug problem still persists, OP won’t survive med school at all. If drug problems are gone and behind, all the better.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Do you have F’s and D’s on your record that you have to explain away? </p>
<p>The OP WILL get asked why/how s/he went from a ~C student to an A student literally overnight. And anything short of the truth – depression and drugs – raises moral, ethical and character issues. The latter (character) is clearly stated as an admissions criteria at a UC med school, for example.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>WowMom- Admirable advice, just not feasible. I don’t want to be a 50 year old MS1, thats just not worth it to me. Also, I’m not white, I’m Indian. My parents are extremely narrow minded like most Indians when it comes to such things.</p>
<p>Indian pre-meds usually graduate college then go to med school. Most Indian premeds are successful and very few in our race fail so hard as me. The cultural norm and expectation is to go to med school after college. However, you could say that I am “one of a kind.” The Indian pre-med who just sucks.</p>
<p>Point is, I doubt my parents, who are supporting my higher education, would be ok to allow their beta (son) to work at kwik-e mart and relearn freshmen chem while everyone else we know are moving on to bigger and better things in life.</p>
<p>So if hypothetically my next year goes REALLY well, and given my current GPA with the amount of credits I have - will I even be eligible for post-bacs after I graduate? If not what needs to be done?</p>
<p>I never was caught using drugs. I made a very very poor decision to turn to them to deal with my issues when my meds weren’t working. I regret that decision a lot, but my entire life is pretty much one giant regret so far so its ok.</p>
<p>I want to take time off after I graduate, but I wanted to spend it doing things that I actually like. </p>
<p>I wanted to work for some medical non-profit companies abroad and travel a bit too.</p>
<p>I wanted to get a masters degree in cancer research but I doubt I’ll qualify for anything that great. Same idea with the Fulbright. I really wanted to do public health research in India, but with my transcript I can probably go there and clean toilets. But I realize now that people like me shouldn’t aspire for things that great in life. I just suck, I should let intelligent productive members of society reap those rewards.</p>
<p>What else can I do?</p>
<p>You really need to get your depression under control before you can move forward with anything–grad school, post bacc, next school year.</p>
<p>I’m sorry you feel you culture/family expectations is such an impediment to your success in life. Perhaps cognitive therapy would be useful to help you put your life into a better perspective. I’m sure that the student health center at your university offers counseling. Seek it out.</p>
<p>Many, many people disappoint their parents. (I know I certainly did…) But one of hallmarks of adulthood is to acknowledge that and get past it. Adults choose their own goals and pursue them. It sounds as if medicine isn’t necessarily your passion in life, but more of a expectation imposed upon you. Perhaps you need to spend some time thinking about what you really want out of life.</p>
<p>The best/most successful SMPs generally require a 3.0 GPA and MCAT of 27 or better.</p>
<p>Mathematically even if have all A’s next year you will not be able to raise your GPA sufficiently to be considered for SMPs. </p>
<p>It’s time to find a Plan B that not include med school.</p>
<p>Do you know how many Indian pre-meds have posted here stating that they are so “unique in their failure” as Indians? You really aren’t. Others have coped and have learned to deal with initial failures so that they can move on to future successes, you can too. There were 10,000 asians and south asians who applied last year. Considering that medical schools are not >50% Asian/South Asian, you are not as alone as you think. In fact, approximately 4500 of those 10,000 were accepted and enrolled, according to the AAMC.</p>
<p>WowMom- Sorry. I want to be a doctor, my parents have never pressured me. It was my decision because I liked medicine. Unfortunately I lacked confidence in myself to pursue what I liked and made some poor decisions along the way.</p>
<p>I like medicine and I want to become a medical practitioner. Yes my GPA may indicate that I am an idiot but I am not a quitter. That is a shameful and pathetic thing to do. I will be a doctor and I don’t care even if my parents tell me I cannot.</p>
<p>I never posted here because I was looking not to go to med school.</p>
<p>And honestly working at Wal-Mart and living in a one-room shack while relearning freshmen chem is not something I can do while others are moving forward in life. I had my chance at college and I ruined it. That’s just what I do.</p>
<p>Sorry, but that just isn’t a feasible plan.</p>
<p>Since my GPA will not be a 3.0 after next year, can I be eligible for any post-bacs to raise my GPA? My understanding was that post-bacs require 3.0 GPAs as well…</p>
<p>If not then what else can I do after I graduate to raise my chances?</p>
<p>I was thinking about working for a medically-related non-profit or organization abroad and applying for a masters program but realistically Im probably not getting in with my grades because I suck. Besides who would hire me anyways right?</p>
<p>@mmmcdowe:</p>
<p>Thats just slightly less than half of the applicant pool that got in. Its true, I could take comfort in the knowledge that the other half of the pool failed like me and we could definitely start our own club (don’t think I haven’t given it thought). </p>
<p>But the truth is that I haven’t met a single indian pre-med in my life who didn’t get into a good US MD school. Literally ALL of our family friends have done so. I believe what I see and experience, and my experience has been that indian pre-meds do not fail. Certainly not as hard as this.</p>
<p>I never said you needed to work at WalMart and relearn basic chem. YOU said that.</p>
<p>I said you need to accept responsibility for your current situation and move forward. A post-bacc is a possibility, but not until you put some time and distance between you and your current low grades.</p>
<p>You’re correct in that most post-baccs will not accept a sub 3.0 GPA.</p>
<p>You need to graduate, get a job, work for awhile, demonstrate maturity & responsibility, perhaps take some classes part-time in public health or some other medically-related field to demonstrate your academic competence, write a kick-ass “how I’ve grown up” personal statement and see what happens. </p>
<p>The path you are currently on does not lead to med school. What are YOU going to change to make your goal happen?</p>
<p>(And I am now done with this thread.)</p>
<p>U shud either retake the classes or do an academic renewal for some. It will raise up.ur gpa. U still have a chance(:</p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>
<p>Thank you WowMom. Only now I have realized how much I have ruined myself. I mean I’m not even going to be competitive enough for post-bac programs - programs that med school rejects use as a safety net. I am truly pathetic in that I am a reject of the rejects. It kills me inside, but that is price I have to pay for being me.</p>
<p>What kind of a job should I look into? I want to work in a medically-related field at least so that I have something to show about how I spent my time in my application.</p>
<p>I have a big interest in cancer research and in public health. I was planning on getting a masters in cancer research and then wanted to do work in public health abroad. But now after this year, after I have destroyed myself, I don’t think this is a route I can do anymore.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t mind working for a public health organization here or abroad but how would I get hired and who would want too given my transcript? Lets not forget my transcript is the equivalent of having a Swastika tattooed on my forehead - its screws me wherever and whichever path I want to take in life. Either way, that still leaves the question of my GPA and how I can get that to a 3.0+ for an SMP after I have graduated from UG.</p>
<p>Maybe WowMom, I could work as a janitor or a garbageman for a hospital and talk about how my inspiration for medicine came from Clorox and Bleach as I continued down my perilous journey down the hallway, armed only with my Swiffer everyday.</p>
<p>Alongway,</p>
<p>I hope you can understand what I am about to say, and know that it comes with as much caring as is possible on an anonymous forum.</p>
<p>You need help, and the fact that you need it says nothing about your potential to be an MD in the future.</p>
<p>Until you get help, I’m not sure you’re going to be in a place to process and understand what people are saying to you, and how no one is telling you that your life is worthless or that you have destroyed yourself. What they are saying though is that you are trying to embark on a long and difficult journey, one in which many people without an illness as crippling as depression have failed. Again, this is not to say you can’t succeed, but it’s not going to be fast and it’s not going to be easy.</p>
<p>No one is saying you need to work a minimum wage job and live in a shack, nor is anyone saying you have to wait until you are 50 to start med school, but they are saying that the roads commonly taken by borderline applicants are currently not open to you because you are currently (not permanently) below borderline.</p>
<p>First you need to get help. I can read it in your posts. You need to learn to appreciate your worth and realize your potential. Yes, you have made mistakes, but that was when you were ill. You are analogous to someone with a broken leg thinking their worthless because they haven’t run the marathon today. You will get there, but you need to heal first. Depression is a chronic illness, and like other chronic illnesses, you can control it with the right therapy (both psychological and pharmacological).</p>
<p>For now, you can work on trying to get great grades, or maybe you should take a medical leave. The point is you need to do the best you can right now, and focus on the short term goals. Get good grades and a job. Employers are not medical school, so you could probably get a decent job despite your academic record. Technician jobs in laboratory or research assistant jobs don’t always require the best records. I can’t imagine being an orderly at a hospital requires high grades if something more cerebral doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Your dreams can be accomplished eventually, but you are going to need help, time, and effort.</p>
<p>@Alongway: First, don’t even care what “other Indian relatives” have achieved. Their achievements shouldn’t have any impact on yourself. If it makes you feel better, I know so many indian premeds who have dropped off the premed track or who stayed but didn’t get into any med schools, and currently, they are leading very successful, happy lives. Being Indian has nothing to do with succeeding in medicine. We’re all the same; an ethnicity does not increase ones’ chances at dong well in medicine. It’s YOU who must stay dedicated.</p>
<p>If you truly care about medicine, you can carry yourself through. Stop bashing yourself, saying you have failed so utterly in life. That kind of lack of confidence is what med schools DON’T NEED.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to be so tough and mean, but that’s reality. You still do have a chance at that MD, but putting yourself down won’t get you ANYWHERE.</p>
<p>Here’s a checklist for you:</p>
<p>-PULL YOURSELF together.
-GET HELP for your depression.
-Find your motivation. WHY do you care about medicine? If it’s anything other than being a passion in life or wanting to help others, medicine isn’t for you.
-Work hard and study while doing medically related extracurricular activities.
-Earn money for those extra years of school.</p>
<p>Again, feeling sorry for yourself and making others feel sorry for you will not accomplish anything. Start seeking help for your depression and then move forward. The past is over, so there’s no point on dwelling on it. There’s only the present and the future to anticipate.</p>
<p>@ iwannabebrown: Thank you for your post. I appreciate the sincerity of it.</p>
<p>Yes it is true that I have depression and it does run in my family. My uncle is chronically depressed and my parents get bouts of depressive episodes (you get the idea). However it is not an excuse. I should have taken the steps to get rid of it and move forward. I should have learned my lesson after all this time. It was my choice to resort to things like drugs. These things are my fault and I must take the blame, regardless if I had depression or not. It is akin to someone with Alzheimer’s robbing a store and then forgetting about the theft. The fact that they have Alzheimer’s does not make them innocent to the act of committing that crime in that moment, just as my depression does not make me innocent for choosing to do drugs.</p>
<p>Therefore I have no one to blame but myself for getting into this position. To become someone who isn’t even borderline - but BELOW that. I have made my parents proud. My education was clearly put to good use. No matter how “positively” you try to word it, at the end of the day, I have failed to perform well enough to not even give me a chance at med school, I don’t even have a chance at med school backup programs. You do not know how much shame it brings, it makes me feel pathetic.</p>
<p>Worth and potential can only be realized if they exist to begin with. Someone like me, who last semester chose to skip class and do very stupid things cannot have either of those things. Moreover, my ability to be an MD can be measured - thats what grades are for. My transcript shows in writing that i am a failure (3 Fs last semester). We can use this quantitatively and see that in fact, I am well below the numerical average to get into med school. Therefore, we can deduce that my chances of being an MD is probably as likely as Fidel Castro coming over to my house and sitting on my lap.</p>
<p>I am no longer in a state of depression iwannabebrown. Though I am very sad about how things are looking for me right now, I have just accepted that this is just who I am. Instead of fighting the shame from my failures, I have accepted it as a part of myself. Though I am unsure if this is healthy in the long run, I am no longer brooding over this. I want to take action.</p>
<p>Technician jobs, research assistant jobs. Man and here I was hoping to do a masters and apply for a Fulbright later down the road to do research in public health abroad during my time off. But I guess it was my fault to aspire for things that great in life. Someone like me shouldn’t dream too big, I’m just setting myself up for more failure. Have enough of that already. So that idea is trash right? I just want to make sure that I’ve ruined chances of ALL my goals, not just med school.</p>
<p>@AceAites:</p>
<p>I graduate college after 5 years, spend about $25k a year for those years, end up working as a lab technician at some remote hospital, spend more money later and redo courses I screwed up in UG, do well and get my GPA 3.0+ with decent MCAT, pray to go into an SMP, and then pray to get into some low-level US MD school somewhere in the States.</p>
<p>Im not comparing myself with anyone. I can’t really. Thats a pretty low-bar right there and I doubt any Indian pre-med is in this pathetic situation. I mean the only comparison that can be made is how much better anyone else is than me. But that’s not really something thats gonna help me. I’ll probably be the oldest brown guy in med school. They will call me “Pitashri” (Sanskrit for elder) MD. </p>
<p>I am trying to move forward, but the thing is, the only way for me to move forward with advice here, is to move backward on the things I wanted to do. Ah well,obviously I just wasn’t good enough to accomplish those things so its a moot point.</p>
<p>“and then pray to get into some low-level US MD school somewhere in the States.”</p>
<p>First of all, there are no “low level” US MD schools in the U.S., all are of the highest quality.</p>
<p>Second, I can not believe that you would even suggest there are any US medical schools that are not really worthy of you because they are “low level”. The fact is that there is essentially no chance you will ever be admitted to any US medical school no matter what level you perceive it as being at.</p>
<p>^ Thanks mate. As I’m sure you know the famous saying:</p>
<p>If you need some motivation to brighten your day, relax! don’t worry! Lemaitre is on the way!</p>
<p>You certainly hold true to that my friend.</p>
<p>I agree. There honestly is no “low-level” US MD school. Thats a dumb to thing say for someone like me because I would go to any med school regardless of rank that said yes! I guess I was talking about DO schools. My bad.</p>